AFTEREFFECTS: FORBIDDEN ARMS

By ERIC SCHMITT

Published: April 28, 2003

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, April 27—
Gen. Tommy R. Franks, the commander of allied forces in the Persian Gulf, said today that the hunt for unconventional weapons in Iraq would require scouring ''several thousand sites,'' a process that experts said could take months.

''We have about 1,000 sites that we knew about before this point,'' General Franks told reporters here. ''We'll go through all of those. The whole thrust of this is probably going to carry us through several thousand sites up in that country.''

The failure of military teams to find evidence of illegal chemical, biological or nuclear weapons, a major reason the United States attacked Iraq, has forced the Bush administration to rethink the scope of the search.

The administration is tripling the number of scientists and engineers assigned to the operation, to about 1,500. President Bush has also said that Iraqi officials have told American investigators that Saddam Hussein may have ordered some of the illicit weapons destroyed or dispersed before the start of the war.

Military teams have turned up tantalizing prospects, including a dozen suspicious 55-gallon drums found propped up with gravel on Friday in an open field near the northern Iraqi town of Baiji. Tests indicated that one drum might contain the nerve agent cyclosarin and a blister agent that could be mustard gas.

But General Franks warned against jumping to conclusions.

''What we want to do is not come across like Baghdad Bob,'' he said, referring to Iraq's former information minister, ''and say we have it before we have it. But we do believe that it is there, and we're going to continue to get through all the sites.''

General Franks's comments came after he and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld met here with top officials of the United Arab Emirates, including Abu Dhabi's crown prince, Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan. On Monday, Mr. Rumsfeld is to hold a town-hall-style meeting with troops in Doha, Qatar.

Mr. Rumsfeld is on a weeklong trip to the Persian Gulf and Afghanistan to thank regional allies for their support in the Iraq war, to promise to help guide Iraq through postwar reconstruction, and to consult his senior commanders and regional leaders about America's military commitments after the fall of Mr. Hussein's government. He is also expected to visit Iraq.

Speaking to reporters traveling with him, Mr. Rumsfeld said he told officials here that ''the United States intends to do what is necessary with coalition partners to ensure there's a secure environment in Iraq,'' to nurture an interim Iraqi civilian authority and, ultimately, to support a permanent elected Iraqi government.

The emirates allowed American U-2 spy planes, a Global Hawk reconnaissance aircraft and KC-10 refueling jets to fly from Al Dhafra air base and a second airstrip that was hastily prepared after Turkey rejected the Pentagon's request to use air bases there. The port of Jebel Ali is a major Navy logistics hub.

The oil-rich emirates, a loose federation of seven former sheikdoms at the southern end of the gulf, have already played an important role in Iraq's reconstruction, Mr. Rumsfeld said. They sent the first relief ship into Iraq, carrying 700 tons of food, medicine and supplies. They are also re-equipping six Iraqi hospitals that were looted and building a plant in Basra that will convert 250,000 gallons of sea water into drinking water each day.

Mr. Rumsfeld and General Franks said American forces were making steady progress capturing Iraqis on the administration's most-wanted list, thanks in large part to Iraqis providing tips. Lt. Gen. Hossam Muhammad Amin, the Iraqi chief liaison to United Nations weapons inspectors, surrendered today.

General Franks said the most well-known Iraqi prisoner, Tariq Aziz, the former deputy prime minister, was answering interrogators' questions, but it was too soon to tell if he was being truthful or helpful.